NickelBookends

A NickelHook mod for Kobo eReaders with three items in the reading menu (the ⋯ menu in the top toolbar while reading, via NickelMenu):

• Physical book pages (toggle). The Jasad Crown • 302 OF 671 • 45% READ
• Hide book titles (toggle). 302 OF 671 • 45% READ

The page count is the "Pages" value from Book details (content.StorePages). Kobo's own caption text is never changed: NickelBookends draws its version in the caption's own paint event, so nothing is resized or re-laid out.

How the physical page is calculated

One tap is not one physical page. NickelBookends tracks your position as a fraction of the book and only then converts it to physical pages:

position = Kobo's percentage + taps since the last anchor / (100 × taps per 1%)
physical page = round(position × Pages)

So each tap adds Pages ÷ (100 × taps per 1%) physical pages. For The Jasad Crown, that's 671 ÷ (100 × 7) ≈ 0.96, so the number usually goes up by one and sometimes stays the same.

Taps per 1% is learned per book and saved in learned.ini:

• Exactly, whenever the toolbar is open: its "Page X of Y" gives Kobo's page count at your current font, so 1% = Y ÷ 100 taps, and X ÷ Y is an exact anchor.
• Otherwise by counting the taps in one full 1% step.

Until either has happened for a book, the page follows Kobo's percentage in 1% steps. Each change of Kobo's percentage re-anchors the position, so errors can't build up.

The book is identified by the title Kobo shows, because setVolume isn't called on firmware 4.46 and the last-read date still points to the previous book.

Settings (.adds/nickelbookends/settings.ini)

key	default	meaning
physical_pages	true	toggled by "Physical book pages in footer"
hide_title	false	toggled by "Hide book titles"
page_format	{page} OF {total}	footer page text
enabled	true	master switch
debug	false	detailed nickelbookends.log
override_total	0	force a page count (testing)

Installation

1. Download KoboRoot.tgz from the Releases page.
2. Connect your Kobo to your computer.
3. Copy KoboRoot.tgz into the hidden .kobo folder on the Kobo.
   • On a Mac, press Cmd + Shift + . in Finder to show hidden folders.
   • On Windows, enable Hidden items in File Explorer's View menu.
4. Eject the Kobo. It installs the mod and restarts by itself.

Tip: close any open book before installing, so the Kobo restarts to the home screen.

How it talks to NickelMenu

"Hide book titles" edits settings.ini, and NickelBookends picks up the change at the next page turn or tap.

Credits: NickelHook and NickelMenu (MIT); the hooks follow NickelClock, NickelHardcover, NickelDissolve and NickelDBus.